Tiswin is a corn beer of the indian pueblos of New Mexico. Phyllis Hughes' _Pueblo Indian Cookbook_ (Museum of New Mexico Press, 1972) (easily found) has a recipe.

As a home brewer, I find that the addition of corn sugar can render an otherwise good brew rather insipid, so I work pretty hard to avoid it. The thought of a dedicated corn beer doesn't much interest me. But then, we all have different tastes.

i dont know of any commercially available corn beers out there. love to try one tho. i can see it maybe working, just owing to corn's innate sweetness. oh well, let us know if you get ahold of anything worthwhile.

btw, anyone out there try magic hat's SAINT GOOTZ dark wheat? i had it last night for the first and it was pretty decent. will have another go and see what its all about.

Among Federal agencies in the US, there are two conflicting definitions of "beer" and "malt beverage". ("Malt Beverage" being the TTB's catch all term for all "beers"- lagers, ales, porters, stouts as well as near beers, "malternatives", etc. It is NOT only a reference to non-beer products like the malt-based flavored stuff, as is commonly believed by some).

The IRS definition does not specify ANY malted barley percentage (or hops, for that matter)- instead allows for malt "substitutes" -grains or sugars. The TTB (successor to the old ATF) specifies *at least* 25% malted barley and 7.5 lbs of hops per 100 barrels (so, in Miller Lite's case- 2.5 lbs times 3). Read all about (complete with lots of legalese that'll make you WANT a beer afterwards) here http://www.ttb.gov/rulings/2008-3.pdf

So, *in theory* a "beer" could have up to 75% adjunct content and still be labeled as such, but most industry sources put the "high" point in the US at around 50% - not counting the "neutral malt beverage base" flavored malternatives. In general, the TTB definitons of beer types is rather, um, let's say, "generous". http://www.ttb.gov/beer/bam/chapter4.pdf They're more concerned with "place" names that any adherence to "style", that's for sure.

The subject of both hops and malt usage in modern beers has come up with both the desire to brew gruits and other non-hopped older styles as well as the demand for gluten-free "beers". (In the latter case, the TTB recently announced they were giving the FDA the responsibility to regulate them).

Postscript - Oh, damn, just realized this is a 3 year old thread resurrection ...